The synthesis of biodiversity information holds great promise as a source of scientific progress in many areas of biology and related disciplines. The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is becoming a nexus for integration of biodiversity information from many fields, and the EOL Biodiversity Synthesis Group, through its Biodiversity Synthesis Center, provides a central location for scientific working groups to convene and explore new ideas and develop tools for synthetic analysis in biodiversity science. We invite proposals for bringing together diverse groups of people to advance biodiversity science and contribute to the EOL.
Synthesis Meetings are held on a wide range of topics in biodiversity, evolution, and conservation. Synthesis Meetings may be held in Chicago at BioSynC or at other national or international venues. Proposals should be focused on biodiversity informatics, involve the formulation of novel scientific ideas, build new bridges among disciplines, and/or deal with a timely issue in biodiversity or conservation. All proposals must have a direct relation to EOL. We anticipate supporting 10-12 Synthesis Meetings per year, with each meeting budget ranging from about $10,000 up to $40,000. We encourage graduate student and postdoctoral researcher involvement in Synthesis Meetings and hope that they will gain valuable training and insight from participation. We strongly encourage diverse, international participation in hopes of fostering novel collaborations.
We welcome Synthesis Meeting proposals at any time, but set 3 target dates for review each year: 1 March, 1 July, and 1 November.
The review process takes about 8 weeks. Please allow a minimum of 4 months between your proposal submission and your target meeting week.
Taxonomy and systematics of megadiverse species groups. Developing consensus species-level taxonomies of large and under-studied species groups, including review of names and synonyms, planning for EOL page content and the synthesis of biogeography and evolution in hyperdiverse taxa.
Conservation biology and climate change. Addressing the challenge of how the EOL can become a tool for scientists studying climate change, including such topics as integration of theory and empirical data, identification of hotspots and conservation priorities, identifying the role of organisms and ecosystems in climate cycles, and the development of practical tools to aid biologists and policy makers in identifying and preserving biodiversity.
Biogeography. Synthesis of biogeographic data, development of tools for biodiversity mapping in space and time, incorporating current and historical distribution records, fossils, predictive range maps, illustrating connections among species (e.g. food webs) on the EOL.
The marine realm. Regional or taxonomic synthesis topics that will make a strong contribution to our understanding of marine biodiversity, biogeography, evolution and conservation.
Phylogenetics and evolution. Integrating the tree of life in the EOL, development of new tools for visualizing phylogenies and patterns of biodiversity on phylogenetic trees, and advancing evolutionary ideas in the Encyclopedia of Life.
Computing and software applications. New software that integrates and visualizes patterns in biodiversity information, as well applications for the use of supercomputers and grid networks for high performance bioinformatics applications as related to the EOL.
Citizen science and digital learning. Developing sound, innovative education tools, applications and products to effectively teach life sciences. Creating new web-based tools and models of engagement for local and global-scale community-based science activities.
